AdmiralHanson wrote:I can understand the sentiment of the post, but there are a number of points that need to be considered with regards to Hillborough and in particular the Lepings Lane end of the ground.

Sadly, the events of Hillsborough were rather overtaken by the clamour for seating at grounds and the rush to turn places in to all-seater stadia in an attemp to keep violence at games at bay (Although Millwall destroyed that little idea, with their antics at Luton, one of the only all seater stadia in the country at the time)

The Leapings Lane end of the ground had an inherant design fault. There was a crush when it was the Spurs end at their Semi in 81 .... There was another crush when it was the Leeds end against Coventry in '87 and we could just as easily be commemorating those as a tragedy. The point is that Hillsborough was a forseeable event waiting to happen when a chain of easily occuring circumstances came together.

The central problem with the ground was the tunnel to take the fans from the turnstile area to the terraces and the four lower pens behind the goal. When the police opened the gates to ticketless fans, there was only one place they could forseeably go and that was towards that one tunnel. Also, unlike many grounds the tunnel led to the highest part of the terracing and thus, it is likley many people would have been nearer the top of the pens to being with, as they would have given the best view. Compare Leapings Lane with say, the South Stand at Headingley ... The SS has four main points of entry and the two tunnels are at pitch level, meaning you generally have to vacate the area of the entrance to move back and get a better view.

In my personal opinion, it is 'safe' to stand at games on the whole, however these need to be properly monitored and policed ... Something that was lacking at Hillsborough.

The football authorities knew of the problems at Hillsborough (there's a bloke commenting in The Times today, as a Spurs fan writing in to complain about being crushed there in '81) and they must hold a certain proportion of the blame of those that died for once again going back to a venue that they knew to have a significant crush risk attached to it.

Perhaps the first thing that football should have done in the aftermath is bulldozed the Leapings Lane end and made sure that design could never kill again. You don't ground every plane just because one particular type had a design flaw.

Carneys Pint wrote:Nothing wrong with researching it Ande as you clearly have.

My cousin was at Hillsborough - thankfully he was one of the lucky ones who got out alive and I've never spoke to anyone in my family about it - bar my mum who told me he was there.

I've listened to several interviews on the subject today - most recently those of the mother of Victoria and Sarah Hicks (previously mentioned in this topic) and as a grown man her interview had me in tears - I can't believe someone could go 8 hours not knowing if her teenage daughters were safe or not

keithcun wrote:And therein lies the problem.

A vast majority of those who have an opinion on Hillsborough have done no such thing, all they know is what they hear from mates, internet forums etc etc. In fact I'll go as far as to say some aren't even interested in the truth.

getdownmonkeyman wrote:One body, whom from what I have read has escaped any criticism is the FA. How can a stadium, which seemingly was in no fit state to host a game where both sets of supporters didn't really know their way around the ground, not be deemed negligent?

In fact, I don't recall any particular statements either way from the FA.

espanyolswan wrote:Because all 92 grounds were unfit to hold such an event the "away" ends at Villa Park, Goodison, Old Trafford etc were as inadequate as Leppings Lane and thats why grounds were transformed so dramatically after the Taylor Report.